


All That Remains - Aftermath

by Darkrogue21



Series: DA2: Dreya Hawke [2]
Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: Angst, F/M, FemHawke - Freeform, Post-All That Remains Quest, Sad times
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-14
Updated: 2019-03-14
Packaged: 2019-11-18 05:09:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18113930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkrogue21/pseuds/Darkrogue21
Summary: Dreya has to deal with the fact that she is now the last of her family. She isolates herself from her friends in the coming days as she processes her grief, but still puts on a brave face and hides behind her jokes, which doesn't fool anyone (especially Fenris).





	All That Remains - Aftermath

A flock of birds soared past the clouds in the bright sky, dodging and weaving in a dance amongst the blue backdrop overhead as the sun shone down. The garden to the Hawke estate was blooming with fresh flowers and covered in sunshine, even the high walls keeping prying eyes out acted as a stage to a small number of songbirds who chirped their melodies to their companions sitting in the trees and bushes on the opposite side. The air was a beautiful mix of warmth with a faint cooling breeze, small gusts carrying with it the scent of the flowers and fresh smells of bread and other baked goods from the neighbouring houses. To the majority of the nobles in Hightown, it was truly a beautiful day, but to Dreya it was nothing more than a beautiful mask to the pain and tragedy that she had suffered two days ago, when she lost her mother and the last of her family.

 

Although she kept her focus on more productive things instead of dwelling on raw emotions and looked at the large target dummy that was set up in front of the trees at the far end of the garden. Bodahn had overheard her complaining that she had nowhere to practice her shooting, so he'd managed to construct a training dummy in the shape of a person by using old sacks stuffed with hay from a merchant in the Hightown market, it was perfect and had already seen a lot of use in recent months. Dreya took a deep breath of the refreshing air as she drew the bowstring back and focused on the target, holding her breath momentarily to steady her hand and launch the arrow. She lowered her arm as she gauged the trajectory and sighed when the arrow pierced the shoulder of the dummy, she cleared a stray strand of hair from her eyes and pulled another arrow from her quiver, readying it for another shot: she knew she could do better than that...

 

Fenris slowed as he approached the front door of the estate and contemplated his presence as he stood at the threshold, he knew she had needed time to grieve over the loss of her mother but he had no idea how long it would take her: it usually took her a very small amount of time to deal with her emotions unlike the average person. He knew that Dreya had a good grasp of hiding whatever she felt underneath a facade of humour very well, and the times when she had merely said she had put her feelings to rest over something, was when it was actually plaguing her thoughts and eating her up from the inside. She carried her burdens alone and hidden well, he recalled that he'd never actually seen her cry since he'd met her, although he knew she would have done so behind closed doors considering the amount of emotional turmoil she'd been in during the years. A small pang of guilt hit him as he knocked on the door, remembering that he himself had contributed to her sadness a few months before when he left her, and now she'd lost her mother, the last member of her family. He snapped back from his thoughts when the door opened and he was greeted by the small stocky red-haired dwarf.

“Ah, good afternoon, messere!” Bodahn smiled in his usual friendly greeting and beckoned the elf inside.

“ I... Hello Bodahn...” he replied  awkwardly  as the dwarf scuttled behind him to shut the door. 

“ I imagine you’re here to check on Lady Dreya, yes?”

“All of us are concerned about her, considering what happened. After a...lengthy discussion with Varric, he thought it best if I stop by.” he spoke as they walked through the hall side-by-side. “Though I don’t think she’ll be happy to see me either.”

“Oh don’t say that. She’ll be glad for the company.” he noticed that the smile from the man had now lost some of it’s sparkle. “Between you and I, I’m worried. The poor girl has barely eaten a thing since she came home, and just shuts herself away in her room, or she busies herself with her archery.”

“So she isn’t doing well?”

“She's...about as well as someone losing a family member can be, I suppose.” they stopped in the main room and he brushed his beard. “I respect and love the girl like she was one of my own, but  she’s hurting .  She hides behind her jokes and smiles but...I can see it. I know  everything's  isn’t as  she makes it out to be...” they stood in silence for a few minutes before the dwarf broke another small smile and looked up to him. “It's good you're here, she really needs a friend at the moment.” Fenris quietly cleared his throat.

“ Bodahn, we’re not exactly- ”

“ Just go on outside, messere.  I think she'd be happy to see you.” he pointed over to the study. “She's in the garden, just through there and right through the kitchen.” Fenris looked over to the open back door and shifted his feet slightly in quiet thought, then looked back down to Bodahn,  giving him a small nod before he left .

 

* * *

 

He stopped on the first of the stone steps, feeling the warmth of the air on his face and leant on the railing as he watched her quietly. She shot another arrow at the dummy, slowly pulling another arrow and firing again, this time just skimming over the shoulder and hitting the tree trunk beside it. She paused and set her bow down against the small table, grabbing her drink and taking a sip as he spoke.

“That was a good shot.” he commented, she turned to see him and smiled.

“That was only enough for a graze...Good if I wanted to make a bandit cry.” she joked, before picking up her bow again and readying another arrow.

“Have you been out here all day?”

“Since this morning...” she replied as she fired again, hitting the dummy in the neck and she looked up into the sky, shielding her eyes from the sunshine. “I figured since we have such nice weather today, I should get outside and enjoy it whilst I can.” she focused herself again and fired another arrow. “So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit, Fenris?”

“I just came by to check on you.”

“I appreciate the thought, but I'm fine.”

S he fired another arrow, not even taking her eyes off her shooting to look at him.

“And who exactly are you trying to convince there, Dreya?”

But she didn't falter, instead he noticed her tighten her grip on the next arrow as she replied again, with a small bite of disdain to her words.

“I'm fine, Fenris.”

“Why do I find myself struggling to believe you?” he replied as he straightened up to fold his arms.

“It's done now, there's nothing I can do to change it.”

A nother arrow  notched into the target.

“But you still need to deal with the fallout of events, Dreya...”

S he loosened the bowstring and lowered  her arm , turning to face him with a weak smile.

“What do you want me to say? Do you expect me to break down in a flood of tears? Fall on my knees and scream about how I could have done more?”

“I'm expecting you to stop hiding behind the jokes and actually take things seriously for once.”

“I don't  **hide** behind my humour, Fenris. I  **cope** by using it, there's a difference.” she snapped.

“Then stop pretending like it doesn't bother you when it really does.” he snapped back, becoming increasingly frustrated with her blocking him, but she  turned her back and  raised her bow again.

“Look, everyone deals with their grief in different ways, this is mine...”  a nother arrow  fired loose, too far over and she frowned. “I could have isolated myself away from everyone, but I didn't. I'm out here trying to make the best of a bad situation, trying to...”

“Take your mind off it?” he finished her sentence. “You're just using this as a distraction then?”

S he lowered her bow when his last comment made her misfire and hit the thick tree branch above the dummy's head.

“What do you want, Fenris?” she sighed as she faced him. “Are you trying to make me cry?”

“I'm trying to make you see that this should matter to you.”

“And you think it doesn't?”

“Not from what I've seen.” He replied, she took a deep breath and readied another arrow.

“You want the truth?” she began as she fired, hitting the dummy square in the chest. “My father died three years before I came here and my brother was killed by one of those bastard darkspawn as we fled Lothering. My sister died in those Blight-infested Deep Roads to darkspawn taint and now I've lost my mother to some crazy mage...” she punctuated each family member with each arrow she fired, getting stronger every time. “The woman who raised me, taught me, loved me for 24 years, and now she's gone. They all are...” he heard her breathing hitch slightly before she fired the next arrow and stopped to face him. “How? How am I supposed to cope with that? With losing everything?” he walked down the steps and closer to her. “The truth is that I don't know how to deal with this. I...hide behind the laughter and the jokes because if I didn't...I'd focus on the reality and then I'd just be a broken down mess. You and everyone else look at me from the outside and see a happy, smiling woman, you think that any of this doesn't affect me? Because it damn well does. More than you could ever imagine.” she wiped her eyes with her sleeve but he stood at a distance. “I’m the last of my family, and you think that makes me happy? I think back through everything that's happened to me and it makes me feel sick, powerless, angry, numb and damn upset. But I don't let things out, I lock it away in a little box and push it to the back of my mind so I can focus on more important things that are happening now.”

“But it doesn't fix the problem.”

“I didn't say it did, but it's what I do.”

“You shouldn't carry this burden on your own, Dreya.” he replied, she scoffed.

“This advice coming from the man who does the exact same thing.” 

H is hand on her shoulder gave her pause.

“I didn't have people around me who cared enough to listen. You still do.” he quickly pulled back and sighed. “But enough, I'm not here to argue. I came here to check on you, but I can clearly see you're handling this yourself. If you still want to be left alone, then I won't trouble you further...”  he turned on his heel and walked back up the stone steps, calling to her  over his shoulder. “I may have taken my problems upon myself, but you were the one who taught me otherwise. Maybe it's time to start taking your own advice...”

 

Dreya looked over to the door behind her as Fenris disappeared inside, she bit her lip and drew another arrow as she turned back, firing again and again made her anger build as her memories swirled around her head and she felt her hands begin to shake as she grabbed each new arrow and fired faster...until she hit her last draw. She drew the string back but as she looked down the shaft to line up her shot, his final words bounced around her head and she felt her chest tighten when she heard the voices of her family in her ears.

 

“ _I can see a lot of myself in you, love. Just promise to watch that sharp tongue of yours around your mother and I'll promise not to laugh, deal?”_

 

“ _I said I didn't need your help, but...thanks, I guess. Although I should be protecting you, being your brother and all...”_

 

“ _I'm scared of what might happen…You'll protect me, won't you, Sister?”_

 

“ _My little girl has grown so strong. I love you. You've always made me proud...”_

 

She felt her arm shake with the tension and her face began to burn, she blinked to clear her eyes and lowered her bow. Wiping her eyes with her sleeve as she choked out a quiet sob.


End file.
